WLNF 90.5 KHz

Logged today: a new FM station for the Toronto log. WLNF, Rapids, NY, on 90.5 MHz at 2025-2035 UTC with a poor signal. English, playing old pop music (e.g., Barry Manilow). ID and announced as "serving Lockport and the Niagara Frontier regions". Only 250 watts. Received on my car radio at Rouge Park in Scarborough.

This is the 159th FM station received in Toronto.

Firedrake Jammer - Maybe

Heard today on 13850 kHz a station that may be another appearance of the Firedrake Jammer. Time: 1255-1300 UTC, good signal. Traditional Chinese music like the Firedrake Jammer plays. Very brief voice announcement in unidentified language at 1300 and then off air. I'm not sure of its identity because the voice announcement is not typical for the Firedrake, and I only heard a few minutes of it. It's possible this is just a regular broadcast station.

Firedrake Jammer 13970 kHz

Came across the Firedrake Jammer from China again. Today it was transmitting on 13970 kHz at 1230 UTC. Signal was fair. No talking as is normal for this station, just traditional Chinese orchestral music.

CKFG-FM 98.7 MHz

There's a new FM station on the air here in Toronto: CKFG-FM, 98.7 MHz. Heard it today for the first time at 2100 UTC with excellent signal (as you'd expect). Callsign ID on the hour. Slogan ID is "G987". Show "Soca Therapy" with Caribbean music. 446 watts.

This is the 158th FM station I've logged from here in Toronto.

Before CKFG-FM occupied the frequency the CBC Radio One outlet in Peterborough usually came in with a decent signal on 98.7. I was actually surprised that the CRTC authorized a Toronto station on 98.7, because of the potential for interference with the Peterborough CBC station.

Shortwave Receptions

Received today on shortwave:

• R. Exterior de España, 3350 kHz, at 0425 UTC in Spanish with poor signal. A rare reception of a station on the 90 metre broadcast band. No ID heard but I've logged REE here before, and it's the only station on this frequency, except for one in North Korea. 100 kW. 
• Radio Netherlands, 11615 kHz at 2010 UTC in English from Kigali, Rwanda relay station. Good solid signal. To Africa, with show "Africa in Progress". 250 kW.
• BSKSA, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 11820 kHz at 2012 UTC with fair signal. Tentative because no ID heard, but I've logged BSKSA here before, and it operates at 500 kW and is scheduled on at this time, so I think the ID is likely. No talk heard, just Arabic music.
• Adventist World Radio, 11755 kHz, at 2014 UTC from relay station at Meyerton, South Africa in French with fair signal. Another tentative one, as no ID heard. AWR is scheduled on here at this time in French, and the announcer was speaking French with an African accent.

Firedrake Jammer 13920 kHz

Firedrake Jammer heard today on 13920 kHz at 1340 to 1353 UTC with very poor signal transmitting from somewhere inside China. No talk, just traditional Chinese music – only fragments heard. Tentative, but sounds exactly like the Firedrake Jammer as I've heard it before (and heard recordings online). Also 13920 is one of the frequencies of the Sound of Hope from Taiwan, which is what the Firedrake Jammer jams.

KRPI 1550 DX Test

I added two stations to the mediumwave log today, thanks to a DX test. One of these is my first reception of a station from Washington state here in Toronto. Station KRPI in Ferndale, WA, 1550 kHz, held a half hour DX test from 0900-0930 UTC (that's 4 a.m. local time here). I set up things to record that frequency overnight and then reviewed the recording later to see if KRPI showed up. I got two new stations:

• WDLR, Delaware, OH, with a poor signal. Spanish talk, and "la que buena" slogan IDs. No legal ID, but the slogan is enough to identify it with reasonable certainty. This station is 500 watts daytime, and supposedly only 29 watts at night. Sounded suspiciously strong for 29 watts.
• KRPI (tentative), Ferndale, WA with very very poor signal under WDLR.  All I heard were some fragments of Morse code at 0900, 0904, 0913, and 0928 UTC. No ID but at 0900 I heard “PI”. This DX test was widely heard across North America, including here in Ontario by several DXers using ultralights. Since there would be no reason to hear Morse code on 1550 except for a DX test, I think I got it but can't be certain. So it gets counted but as a tentative logging.

This brings the count of mediumwave stations logged in Toronto to 388, and the overall count (logged from anywhere but mostly from Kingston, Ontario) to 970.

Cuba y China desde Cuba

Two routine loggings for today, both transmitting from Havana, Cuba:

• China Radio International, 13740 kHz, at 1430-1540 UTC in English with good solid steady signal.
• Radio Havana Cuba, 13670 kHz, at 1542-1557 UTC in Spanish with good signal, although not as good as CRI's. Folk music, talk, ID, and off air at 1557.

WLO RTTY/SITOR-B Broadcast

For the final day of January 2012 I have one interesting reception to report:

• WLO, 8473 kHz, at 1302-1322 UTC in RTTY and SITOR-B. Weak signal. Transmitting in 45 baud RTTY in clear English – decoded using MultiPSK. Then station switched to SITOR-B mode, still in clear English. Content: Voice of America news bulletins. Weak and not able to decode at times. No ID, but found a blog post (here) about WLO now broadcasting in RTTY and SITOR-B on this frequency. The author posted the content of what he received, and it was exactly the same format as what I saw. So the identification is pretty likely.

And that's it. At the beginning of the month I set myself the challenge of finding something interesting on radio to log every day and I've succeeded at that. I do have a pretty broad definition of "interesting", but it's good to find that even in 2012, when shortwave broadcasters are dropping like plague victims, that there's still lots of interesting stuff to find on the radio bands.  And while shortwave broadcasting seems to be in real decline, most other uses of radio are just as active as ever. So get listening!

W5TZC

Normally I wouldn't post about hearing an ordinary sort of amateur station from the U.S. or Canada. But I set myself the challenge of logging something each day this month, and today I only found a few minutes to spend on radio. This is the only station that made it into the log for today:

• W5TZC, Bismarck, AR, USA, on 7019 kHz (40 metres) in CW at 0553 UTC calling CQ. RST: 579.

NMF HF-Fax

Today's radio catches: reception of station NMF, Boston, MA, on three different frequencies with HF facsimile transmissions. NMF is operated by the U.S. Coast Guard for the marine service and broadcasts information of interest to mariners. These HF facsimile transmissions were broadcasting marine weather from NOAA. Information about NMF is found at weather.noaa.gov/fax/marsh.shtml. I think that NMF's transmitter site is actually located on Cape Cod, not in Boston itself. Receiver: Drake SW8. HF-Fax decoded using MultiPSK.

• 6340.5 kHz, 1530-1550 and again at 1722 UTC. Fair to good signal. English. HF-Fax transmission with weather chart for Atlantic Ocean. NOAA logo on chart. Off at 1550. On again at 1722, with HF-Fax message that began with “CQ CQ CQ DE NMF NMF NMF” and “NOAA Rado Facsimile Charts Follow”. Charts then followed.
• 9110 kHz, 1733-1737 UTC. Good signal. HF-Fax charts // 6340.5. Received based on schedule at www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/hfmarsh_links.htm. Much better picture quality here than on 6340.5.
• 12750 kHz, 1737 UTC. HF-Fax charts // 6340.5 and 9110. Weather charts – best of the the three frequencies.

NMF Navtex on Shortwave

Today on shortwave I logged four utility broadcasts from two stations in the maritime service. All but one are relogs:

• WLO, Mobile, AL, USA on 17362 kHz at 1615-1630 UTC transmitting in SSB in English. Fair signal. Marine weather forecast. Female computer generated voice. ID for WLO and KLB at half hour, then off air.
• NMF, Boston, MA, USA on 12578 kHz at 1650-1710 UTC. Good signal. Loud and steady SITOR-B signal, which I decoded using MultiPSK. Surprised to find that it was a standard Navtex broadcast from NMF like those on 518 kHz - I didn't know Navtex was sent on shortwave as well. Meteorological conditions and navigation safety warnings. English. Good signal. New to log.
• WLO, Mobile, AL, USA on 12581.5 kHz at 1710 UTC with fair signal. Morse code/SITOR-A channel marker with WLO ID in Morse code.
• WLO, Mobile, AL, USA on 12584 kHz at 1715 UTC with fair to poor signal. Morse code/SITOR-A channel marker with WLO ID in Morse code.

SITOR-B 8473 kHz

Unidentified station heard transmitting in SITOR-B mode today on 8473 kHz at 1355 UTC. Fair signal. Didn't have time to try to decode it.

AFRTS 7812 kHz

AFRTS (American Forces Radio and Television Service) feed on 7812 kHz heard at 0600 UTC in English. Mode: SSB. Weak. Transmitting from Saddlebunch Keys, FL, USA. News, etc from AFN. 3 kW.

NOAA HF-Fax Station

Received today on 8502 kHz at 1330-1345 UTC: unidentified station transmitting in HF-Fax mode. No ID seen (signal was weak and difficult to decode) but NOAA logo was visible so station is from the U.S.A. Decoded using MultiPSK.